Like the crosstown, La Jolla Playhouse-affiliated UC San Diego graduate theater and dance program (which offers multiple disciplines), Globe/USD regularly lands on lists of the top such programs in the country. (Seer says it’s regarded as the top classical acting program nationwide.)

Seer admits it “came as a rude shock that students from my program were old enough” to appear in “Carnage.” (The characters in the play are all close to 40.) “I have a family that never seems to get older. That’s how I feel a little bit as a teacher, because your students are forever young.”

But he says having actors who’ve been through common experiences and learned similar techniques in the classically centered program is a major boost when they return to the Globe.

“Just like starting any new job, an actor has to quickly respond to and talk to their boss,” Seer says. “We have to form those relationships and establish that trust very early, in a matter of days.

“(Here), you already have a shorthand — and most important, you already have a trust.”

Or, as Rolfsrud puts it: “We don’t have to have that glitch of a moment of, is he going to understand what I’m saying when I ask him this question? It’s like when you see somebody you haven’t seen in a long time, and you just pick right up. It’s that feeling with Rick.”

Muelder, meanwhile, says of the central focus on Shakespeare: “You know how if you play piano, every other instrument comes a little more easily? That’s how I felt about classical training. And that has paid off.”

Because of the program’s hands-on, vocational approach, says Rooney, “the one thing you know about people coming out of this program is they do know how to work. You can count on us to get the job done.”

Of course, Rooney can’t resist one more punch line: “(Now), it may not be the best job, but …” he says, trailing off with a laugh.